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Educating the British
Prof Gus John
GJP Ltd
Institute of Education
14 May 2008
Two key texts
Born to Be Great - NUT 2007
Rights, Entitlements and Responsibilities of Schools, Parents and School Students
Born to be Great
Emancipate Yourself….Choose Life!
- published 2007 by GJP Limited
Born to be Great
The Problem of Coloured School Leavers
- 1st report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration, 1969
Born to be Great
‘West Indian parents have unrealistic aspirations for their children…
They equate length of time spent in school with quality of educational outcomes’
Born to be Great
Source of their high aspirations?
Life experience with Britain in the Caribbean
Evidence of education as a route to self improvement and social transformation, especially for the children of the poor and dispossessed
Born to be Great
Media coverage of report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Schooling outcomes for poor white boys
Dispelling myths and distortions
2006 GCSE Results
13% of GCSE entrants received free school meals (indicator of ‘poverty’)
87% did not
Of that 87%, 5A* - C passes by ethnicity:
White Boys 43.5%Mixed (white/Black Caribbean Boys 31.6%Black Caribbean Boys 25.0%Other Black Background Boys 29%
Black Caribbean Boys lagging behind White Boys by 18.5% points
White Girls 52%
Mixed White/Black Caribbean Girls 42.7%
Black Caribbean Girls 39.4%
Black African Girls 50.4%
Other Black Background Girls 41.5%
Black Caribbean Girls lagging behind White Girls by 12.6% points
***Black Caribbean Boys lagging behind Black Caribbean Girls by 25.4% points
***White Boys lagging behind White Girls by a mere 8.5% points
Young Black People Out-Performing All Others in School Exclusions and the CJS
3 times more likely to be arrested than whites
2.7% of population aged 10-17 but 8.5% of all those arrested in that age group in England & Wales
Black people more than 6 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people
Once charged, Black young offenders much more likely to be denied unconditional bail than Whites and more likely to be remanded in custody
Under 18s remanded in custody in 2004/05
8.1% of Black 5.1% Asian 4.4% white
Black young offenders accounted for 6% of total offences in 2004/05
They received 11.6% of all custodial sentences
Black 10-17 year olds make up 2.7% of the population, but 6% of all those supervised by Youth Offending Teams
Overall custodial population:
1997 to 2003, 9% increase in all British male prisoners
25% increase in Black male prisoners with British nationality as compared to a 5% increase in White male prisoners with British nationality
In 2005-06, of an increase of 115 people in youth custody, 78 were black boys
- Youth Justice Board evidence to the Home
Affairs Committee
15% of the under-18 population in London is Black but they account for:
37% of all those stopped and searched
31% of those accused of committing a crime
26% of pre-court decisions 49% of remand decisions 43% of custodial decisions 30% of those dealt with by Youth
Offending Teams
‘At Feltham Young Offenders Institution, the only Young Offender Institution in London,42% of inmates are black’
- Home Affairs Committee report
Black People and the DNA Databank
‘DNA samples can be taken by the police from anyone arrested and detained in custody in connection with a recordable offence’- HAC report
‘Baroness Scotland (now Attorney General) confirmed that three quarters of the young black male population will soon be on the DNA database’
Home Affairs Committee report on young black people and crime (2007)
‘Black people are 5.5 times more likely than white people to be a victim of homicide….
…In London, the largest number of homicides in the black group are of males aged between 21-30…. Black males account for nearly two thirds of all murders of 10-17 year olds’
African Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have the lowest educational attainment and lowest occupational status
- Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, 2004
African & Asian people make up 1 in 13 of the UK population. In the last 20 years, they have accounted for two-thirds of the growth of the total UK population
In the next 10 to 20 years, the British labour market will depend increasingly on those communities for its supply of labour
If we don’t grow that knowledgeable and skilled labour force, the labour supply will come, increasingly, from among new migrants (especially from Poland, Rumania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe)
Black young people will become the underclass in the society:
living on the edge living in ever widening conflict
with one another living at odds with the society
Born to Be Great
Involvement in gangs and in gun crime is NOT a necessity
Born to be Great
Thankfully, there are very many more young people not involved in gangs and in using guns and knives than those who are
Born to be Great
Why is it that some young people (boys and girls) from the same family do well at school, live peaceably with their peers and manage themselves well in their community, while their siblings do the complete opposite and…. end up dead?
Born to be Great
Values
I believe in the dignity and worth of the human being
I believe that everyone has a right to live with respect and dignity and to have that right upheld
Born to be Great
I believe that respect for oneself and for others grows by giving it practical expression in all aspects of daily living
Born to be Great
How do I manage myself when others fail to respect my right to be treated with dignity?
How do I resolve conflict without using violence?
Born to be Great
How do I take responsibility for myself, even when others around me, including parents and teachers, might be behaving inappropriately?
International Human Rights Standards
The best interests of the child must be paramount (Article 3)
Children have a right to be heard (A.12) Children have a right not to be discriminated
against on the basis of, for example, class, race, ethnicity, religion/faith or gender (A.2)
(OR because of the failings of either parent)
Beyond Compliance
How do teachers and parents operate in accordance with those International Human Rights Standards?
How do you create an environment, in the home and in school, in which all children could feel safe, valued and respected…and could believe in themselves and their potential?
How do you ensure that irrespective of the disposition or beliefs of parents, children are provided with the knowledge, understanding and skills to be at ease with, and respect themselves, so that they could respect people who are not like themselves and believe in their potential?
Living Our Values
‘We, as facilitators of children’s learning and self development, must be seen to model by our own conduct and by living our values, the behaviours and principles we wish to see our children, and all children, exhibit’
John (2006)
Children have a right not to be discriminated against ….
Children also have a right to guidance and support in developing the positive and holistic SELF, irrespective of their background
Born to be Great
‘We root our identity in our knowledge of our past, in the spiritual traditions of our ancestors, in the profile that their struggles, achievements and advances earn for succeeding generations, and in the sense we have of the quality of our own contribution to the present’
- Gus John (2007)
Know Your Self Manage the Self Manage the Self in relation
to others
Self Definition
Self Esteem
Self Worth
Self Development Self
Realisation
Self Knowledge
SelfImage
Self Discipline
Self Confidence
Self Management
SELF
Born to be Great
I learnt that poverty is not an excuse for poor standards, low aspirations, amoral values and hedonistic conduct….
Born to be Great
but rather that we who are poor have more cause to build our self esteem, walk in our integrity, fight for the rights and entitlements that are being denied us…
Born to be Great
and to insist that no one consider us less than we are, or less than we know we have the capacity to be.
